Mattress Encasement Assembly

ABSTRACT

A mattress encasement assembly an outer cover for an interior cushioning system of a mattress. The outer cover includes an upper section including a top wall having a top perimeter edge. An upper perimeter wall is coextensive with and extends downwardly from the top perimeter edge. A lower section includes a bottom wall having a bottom perimeter edge. A lower perimeter wall is coextensive with and extends upwardly from the bottom perimeter edge. A coupler is attached to the upper and lower sections to releasably secure the upper perimeter wall and the lower perimeter wall together such that the upper and lower sections encase a plurality of cushioning panels. The coupler allows a height between the top and bottom walls to be adjusted.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not Applicable

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

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THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT

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INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM

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STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR

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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION (1) Field of the Invention

The disclosure relates to mattress cover device and more particularly pertains to a new mattress cover device for encasing and retaining an interior cushioning system typically comprised of a plurality of layers of resiliently compressible, i.e. cushioning, panels. The panels maybe added to or replaced to alter the firmness, compressibility and/or support of a mattress. However, upon altering the cushioning panels, the height of the overall internal cushioning system may have been altered. The mattress cover device disclosed herein has a variable height construction to allow the end user to unilaterally alter the interior cushioning system and then alter the height of the outer cover to ensure that it maintains a tight, supportive encasement of the interior cushioning system. This will allow a bed manufacturer or seller to ship a cushioning panel to an end user with the understanding that the original outer cover will still function properly.

(2) Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98

The prior art relates to mattress cover devices that are not size adjustable and therefore must be entirely replaced with a new mattress cover should an interior of the mattress require a height adjustment.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising an outer cover for an interior cushioning system of a mattress. The outer cover includes an upper section including a top wall having a top perimeter edge. A upper perimeter wall is coextensive with and extends downwardly from the top perimeter edge. A lower section includes a bottom wall having a bottom perimeter edge. A lower perimeter wall is coextensive with and extends upwardly from the bottom perimeter edge. The upper and lower sections each comprising a fabric material. A coupler is attached to the upper and lower sections to releasably secure the upper perimeter wall and the lower perimeter wall together such that the upper and lower sections encase a plurality of cushioning panels. The coupler includes a first mating member attached to the upper perimeter wall and extending along a bottom edge of the upper perimeter wall. A pair of second mating members is each releasably engageable with the first mating member and include an upper mating member and a lower mating member. The upper mating member is attached to and extends along a top edge of the lower perimeter wall while the lower mating member is attached to and extends around the lower perimeter wall. The lower mating member is positioned between the upper mating member and the bottom wall. The first mating member is securable to the upper mating member to provide a first height dimension between the top and bottom walls and is securable to the lower mating member to provide a second height dimension between the top and bottom walls. The first height dimension is greater than the second height dimension.

There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.

The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front isometric view of a mattress encasement assembly according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a front isometric view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of an embodiment of the disclosure taken of area “3” in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of an embodiment of the disclosure showing an upper and lower coupler combination.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of an embodiment of the disclosure showing another configuration of the upper and lower coupler combination.

FIG. 6 is a rear isometric view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a front isometric view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a bottom isometric view of an upper section of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 9 is a top isometric view of a lower section of an embodiment of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to FIGS. 1 through 9 thereof, a new mattress cover device embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeral 10 will be described.

As best illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 9, the mattress encasement assembly 10 generally comprises a structure used to hold an interior cushioning system 12 of a mattress. As is well known in the art of mattresses, the interior of a mattress is typically constructed of a plurality of cushioning panels 14 which are each resiliently compressible and are used to add different qualities to an overall, finished mattress. Therefore, the cushioning panels 14 may be provided with, for example, different elastomers, foams, gels, varying heights, different coefficients of restitution, and may also include coiled spring elements. Mattress manufacturers have long known that by varying different layers, the end result may consist of multiple different levels of “firmness” and compressibility. While two mattresses may have an equal compressibility, they may feel different depending on the layers of foams and elastomers being used.

To protect and hold together the cushioning panels, the mattress encasement assembly 10 is an outer cover 16 that includes an upper section 18 including a top wall 20 having a top perimeter edge 22 and an upper perimeter wall 24 is coextensive with and extends downwardly from the top perimeter edge 22. A lower section 26 includes a bottom wall 28 having a bottom perimeter edge 30 with a lower perimeter wall 32 that is coextensive with and extends upwardly from the bottom perimeter edge 30. The upper 18 and lower 26 sections each comprise any fabric material that is conventional to mattress encasements and may include natural and synthetic fibers, for example. It should be understood that the terms “upper” and “lower” as used above and in conjunction with the vertical directions otherwise spoken about herein may be reversed since the assembly 10 may be utilized as stated above or may be flipped over in an upside-down orientation and the orientations provided herein are used only for clarification purposes.

A coupler 34 is attached to the upper 18 and lower 26 sections to releasably secure the upper perimeter wall 24 and the lower perimeter wall 32 together such that the upper 18 and lower 26 sections are configured to encase the plurality of mattress cushioning panels 14. The coupler 34 includes a first mating member 36 that is attached to the upper perimeter wall 24. The first mating member 36 extends along, or adjacent to, a bottom edge of the upper perimeter wall 24 distal to the top wall 20. A pair of second mating members 38, 40 each is releasably engageable with the first mating member 36. The second mating members 38, 40 include an upper mating member 38 and a lower mating member 40. The upper mating member 38 is attached to and extends along, or adjacent to, a top edge of the lower perimeter wall 28 distal to said bottom wall 32. The lower mating member 40 is attached to and extends around the lower perimeter wall 32 and is positioned between the upper mating member 38 and the bottom wall 28.

The first mating member 36 is securable to the upper mating member 38 to provide a first height dimension between the top 20 and bottom 28 walls. The first mating member 36 is securable to the lower mating member 40 to provide a second height dimension between the top 20 and bottom 28 walls. The first height dimension is greater than the second height dimension. This structure allows the user of the assembly 10 to alter a height of the outer cover 16 depending upon the height of the interior cushioning system 12. Thus, should the user want to add to or alter the cushioning panels 14, this may be accomplished while using the same outer cover 16. Maintaining the outer cover 16 in a relatively tight configuration around the entirety of the cushioning panels 14 is important as the outer cover 16 provides lateral stability for the entire, fully formed mattress.

The coupler 34 may comprise any conventional mechanical coupler suitable for joining two edges of fabric together. Therefore, snaps, buttons, hook and loop connectors and the like may be utilized. In one preferred embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 3-5, the coupler 34 includes a zipper having a slider body 42. The slider body 42 is mounted on the first mating member 36 and is selectively engageable with the upper mating member 38 or the lower mating member 40, wherein the first mating member 36, upper mating member 38 and lower mating member 40 each comprise conventional zipper teeth.

While the coupler 34 may extend around an entire periphery of the outer cover 16, there may be a section where the upper perimeter wall 24 and lower perimeter wall 32 are sewn together, such as along a portion of an end wall of the outer cover 16. In such an embodiment, the first 36 and lower 40 mating members will each still extend around the entirety of the outer cover 16 to allow for the outer cover 16 height to be decreased along its entire periphery.

In one embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 7, an outer cover 44 is provided where each of the top 22 and bottom 30 perimeter edges includes a first lateral edge 46, a second lateral edge 48, a first end edge 50 and a second end edge 52. Each of the first 50 and second 52 end edges, of each of the top 20 and bottom 28 walls, has an elongated slot 54 extending therethrough that is positioned between corresponding ones of the first 46 and second 48 lateral edges. The slots 54 in the perimeter edges 22, 30 extend through associated ones of the top 20 and bottom 28 walls wherein the slots 54 in the top wall 20 extend toward each other and the slots 54 in the bottom wall 28 extend toward each other. As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the upper perimeter wall 24 is attached to and extends along edges formed by the slots 54 in the top wall 20 and the lower perimeter wall 32 is attached to and extends along edges formed by the slots 54 in the bottom wall 28. This outer cover 44 allows for the positioning of two separately reclining/raising beds to be covered with the outer cover 44. This outer cover 44 may also be provided with two separate second mating members 38, 40 to allow one side of a bed to have a different configurations than the other.

A plurality of reinforcing panels 56 is attached to each of the top 20 and bottom 28 walls. Each of the slots 54 terminates at one of the reinforcing panels 56 and the reinforcing members 56 comprise a flexible material which may include fabrics, synthetic materials, plastics or elastomers that prevent the slots 54 from inadvertently extending by tearing either of the top 20 or bottom 28 walls as the mattresses are raised or lowered relative to each other.

In use, the outer cover 16 is used in a conventional manner as a retention and covering member for cushioning and stability elements found within a mattress. However, if an end user determines that their mattress is either too soft or too firm, they can add to or replace cushioning panels 14 as needed without having to replace the outer cover 16. This will allow a manufacturer or retailer to send the replacement cushioning panel 14 to the end user and thereafter the end user opens the outer cover 16, adds or removes cushioning panels 14, and then closes the outer cover 16 using the best fitting second mating member 38 or 40. For this reason, it should be understood that while the disclosure herein only shows upper 38 and lower 40 mating members, a second mating member defining an intermediate mating member may be added and which is positioned between the upper 38 and lower 40 mating members.

With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.

Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements. 

I claim:
 1. A mattress encasement assembly for covering a plurality of cushioning panels, the mattress encasement assembly comprising: an upper section including a top wall having a top perimeter edge, an upper perimeter wall being coextensive with and extending downwardly from the top perimeter edge; a lower section including a bottom wall having a bottom perimeter edge, a lower perimeter wall being coextensive with and extending upwardly from the bottom perimeter edge; the upper and lower sections each comprising a fabric material; a coupler being attached to the upper and lower sections to releasably secure the upper perimeter wall and the lower perimeter wall together such that the upper and lower sections are configured to encase the plurality of cushioning panels, the coupler including; a first mating member being attached to the upper perimeter wall, the first mating member extending along a bottom edge of the upper perimeter wall; a pair of second mating members each being releasably engageable with the first mating member, the second mating members including an upper mating member and a lower mating member, the upper mating member being attached to and extending along a top edge of the lower perimeter wall, the lower mating member being attached to and extending around the lower perimeter wall, the lower mating member being positioned between the upper mating member and the bottom wall; and the first mating member being securable to the upper mating member to provide a first height dimension between the top and bottom walls, the first mating member being securable to the lower mating member to provide a second height dimension between the top and bottom walls, the first height dimension being greater than the second height dimension.
 2. The mattress encasement assembly according to claim 1, wherein the coupler comprises a zipper having a slider body, the slider body being mounted on the first mating member and being selectively engageable with the upper mating member or the lower mating member.
 3. The mattress encasement assembly according to claim 1, wherein each of the top and bottom perimeter edges includes a first lateral edge, a second lateral edge, a first end edge and a second end edge, each of the first and second end edges having an elongated slot extending therethrough and being positioned between the first and second lateral edges, the upper perimeter wall being attached to and extending along edges formed by the slots in the top wall, the lower perimeter wall being attached to and extending along edges formed by the slots in the bottom wall.
 4. The mattress encasement assembly according to claim 3, further including a plurality of reinforcing panels being attached to each of the top and bottom walls, the each of the slots terminating at one of the reinforcing panels.
 5. A mattress encasement assembly for covering a plurality of cushioning panels, the mattress encasement assembly comprising: an upper section including a top wall having a top perimeter edge, an upper perimeter wall being coextensive with and extending downwardly from the top perimeter edge; a lower section including a bottom wall having a bottom perimeter edge, a lower perimeter wall being coextensive with and extending upwardly from the bottom perimeter edge; the upper and lower sections each comprising a fabric material; a coupler being attached to the upper and lower sections to releasably secure the upper perimeter wall and the lower perimeter wall together such that the upper and lower sections are configured to encase a plurality of cushioning panel, the coupler including; a first mating member being attached to the upper perimeter wall, the first mating member extending along a bottom edge of the upper perimeter wall; a pair of second mating members each being releasably engageable with the first mating member, the second mating members including an upper mating member and a lower mating member, the upper mating member being attached to and extending along a top edge of the lower perimeter wall, the lower mating member being attached to and extending around the lower perimeter wall, the lower mating member being positioned between the upper mating member and the bottom wall; the first mating member being securable to the upper mating member to provide a first height dimension between the top and bottom walls, the first mating member being securable to the lower mating member to provide a second height dimension between the top and bottom walls, the first height dimension being greater than the second height dimension; the coupler comprising a zipper having a slider body, the slider body being mounted on the first mating member and being selectively engageable with the upper mating member or the lower mating member; each of the top and bottom perimeter edges including a first lateral edge, a second lateral edge, a first end edge and a second end edge, each of the first and second end edges having an elongated slot extending therethrough and being positioned between the first and second lateral edges, the upper perimeter wall being attached to and extending along edges formed by the slots in the top wall, the lower perimeter wall being attached to and extending along edges formed by the slots in the bottom wall; and a plurality of reinforcing panels being attached to each of the top and bottom walls, the each of the slots terminating at one of the reinforcing panels.
 6. A mattress system comprising: a plurality of cushioning panels; an outer cover being removably positionable over and encasing the cushioning panels, the outer cover including: an upper section including a top wall having a top perimeter edge, an upper perimeter wall being coextensive with and extending downwardly from the top perimeter edge; a lower section including a bottom wall having a bottom perimeter edge, a lower perimeter wall being coextensive with and extending upwardly from the bottom perimeter edge; the upper and lower sections each comprising a fabric material; a coupler being attached to the upper and lower sections to releasably secure the upper perimeter wall and the lower perimeter wall together such that the upper and lower sections encase the plurality of cushioning panels, the coupler allowing adjustment in a height from the top wall to the bottom walls.
 7. The mattress system according to claim 6, wherein the coupler includes: a first mating member being attached to the upper perimeter wall, the first mating member extending along a bottom edge of the upper perimeter wall; a pair of second mating members each being releasably engageable with the first mating member, the second mating members including an upper mating member and a lower mating member, the upper mating member being attached to and extending along a top edge of the lower perimeter wall, the lower mating member being attached to and extending around the lower perimeter wall, the lower mating member being positioned between the upper mating member and the bottom wall; and the first mating member being securable to the upper mating member to provide a first height dimension between the top and bottom walls, the first mating member being securable to the lower mating member to provide a second height dimension between the top and bottom walls, the first height dimension being greater than the second height dimension.
 8. The mattress system according to claim 7, wherein the coupler comprises a zipper having a slider body, the slider body being mounted on the first mating member and being selectively engageable with the upper mating member or the lower mating member.
 9. The mattress system according to claim 6, wherein each of the top and bottom perimeter edges includes a first lateral edge, a second lateral edge, a first end edge and a second end edge, each of the first and second end edges having an elongated slot extending therethrough and being positioned between the first and second lateral edges, the upper perimeter wall being attached to and extending along edges formed by the slots in the top wall, the lower perimeter wall being attached to and extending along edges formed by the slots in the bottom wall.
 10. The mattress system according to claim 9, further including a plurality of reinforcing panels being attached to each of the top and bottom walls, the each of the slots terminating at one of the reinforcing panels.
 11. A method of forming a mattress comprising the steps of: stacking a plurality of cushioning panels on top of each other to define an interior cushioning system, each of the cushioning panels being resiliently compressible; placing a mattress encasement around the cushioning panels such that the cushioning panels are encased by the mattress encasement, the mattress encasement including: an upper section including a top wall having a top perimeter edge, an upper perimeter wall being coextensive with and extending downwardly from the top perimeter edge; a lower section including a bottom wall having a bottom perimeter edge, a lower perimeter wall being coextensive with and extending upwardly from the bottom perimeter edge; the upper and lower sections each comprising a fabric material; a coupler being attached to the upper and lower sections to releasably secure the upper perimeter wall and the lower perimeter wall together such that the upper and lower sections encase the cushioning panels, the coupler including; a first mating member being attached to the upper perimeter wall, the first mating member extending along a bottom edge of the upper perimeter wall; a pair of second mating members each being releasably engageable with the first mating member, the second mating members including an upper mating member and a lower mating member, the upper mating member being attached to and extending along a top edge of the lower perimeter wall, the lower mating member being attached to and extending around the lower perimeter wall, the lower mating member being positioned between the upper mating member and the bottom wall; the first mating member being securable to the upper mating member to provide a first height dimension between the top and bottom walls, the first mating member being securable to the lower mating member to provide a second height dimension between the top and bottom walls, the first height dimension being greater than the second height dimension; and selecting the upper mating member or the lower mating member depending up a height of the interior cushioning system.
 12. The method of forming a mattress according to claim 11, including the step of the coupler comprising a zipper having a slider body, the slider body being mounted on the first mating member and being selectively engageable with the upper mating member or the lower mating member. 